Without any positive striker, Mohun Bagan coach rightly adopted a cautious start with Marcos Perreira as defensive medio and Dipak and Micky marking Odafe and Kalu respectively. Dipak played really well and did not allow Odafe to turn. Micky, however, was not in the best of his form today. Within 5 minutes, Mohun Bagan got a good chance when James took a left footed shot that hit cross bar. Mohun Bagan controlled the game from start and from Marcos center Suraj missed a golden chance to score when his head went over bar. In another attack, Suraj cut in past 1 player but took a poor shot which went straight to Arindam.

Mohun Bagan was denied a clear penalty midway through first half. Snehasish brilliantly got past 2 players but was brought down clearly by Churchill defender, television replay clearly showed the contact was made on Snehasish's leg and not ball. Nepalese Referee Laba Khatri was very close to the incident but he chose to ignore the incident.

Against run of play, Churchill scored in 41st minute. Odafe got a loose ball and tried to beat Dipak who made a first time tackle, the ball rolled over to unmarked Vashum who took a shot from outside box that beat Shilton and went to back of the net. Dipak did his job but Vashum should have been marked by someone else. In injury time of first half, Odafe made it 2-0. Mohanraj tried to tackle Odafe but the latter sprinted ahead before rounding the advancing goalkeeper and sent the ball nestling into the net.

In 2nd half, Karim changed strategy and replaced Kulu and Suraj with Subho Kumar and Santa Kumar and put Marcos in forward. This changed the complexion of the game and Mohun Bagan got numerous chances to score. James header was cleared from goal line by Gourmangi. Marcos missed two very easy chances. James cross from right beat Gourmangi and went to unmarked Marcos but he headed the ball out; Micky gave a nice pass to Snehasish who curled the ball in from left flank and Marcos just needed a touch to score, but the ball hit his shin bone and went out kissing the post. This was the easiest chance of the match that went begging. Surkumar and James had a very good match and kept continous pressure from right flank and delivered numerous crosses in box, but due to lack of a positive striker Mariners could not score a goal. From Surkumar center, Micky who was well positioned in box, completely mistimed his head and another chance was wasted. The better option for Micky would have been to chest trap the ball and then he could have got time to place the ball inside goal. In last quarter of match, Karim brought in Kartick in place of Mohanraj and went to 3-4-3 but Mohun Bagan could not score any goal. Apart from those two attacks which were converted to goal, Odafe took only one shot in 2nd half which was saved by Shilton.

Mohun Bagan thus dominated the match, created chances and yet finished runners in IFA Shield.

After match, in press conference, Karim said, "Had Edeh Chiddi been there with Jose Ramirez Barreto, we could have had a different match. Ishfaq was also not there in flanks and NS Manju in defence. That gives me confidence to say that we have a great season ahead. We also missed many easy chances in the match."

IFA had decided to honour best coach of IFA Shield with "Rahim Saheb trophy." Ex players Sudhir Karmakar, Prasun Banerjee and Gautam Sarkar selected Vijay Kumar, coach of TFA as the best coach. Firstly, Vijay Kumar is not the permanent coach of TFA and secondly, how come coach of TFA become best coach when the team did not even qualify for semi finals. Even before semi final, the selectors had said that they would give the trophy to an Indian coach since the award is in the name of a famous Indian coach. This is a racist statement, as the award was meant to be for the Best Coach of IFA Shield and not Best Indian Coach of IFA Shield.

The trophy could have been given to Mohun Bagan coach Karim. Remember, in semi final, Mohun Bagan was down to 10 man when their Ace striker Chiddi was shown red card. Karim changed his strategy and played a tactical game that helped Mariners to reach final. The team which Mohun Bagan fielded in final did not have any experienced striker, plus opponents Churchill had the menacing Odafe. Karim planned his game plan accordingly and in first half he made a cautious start and had planned to go all out in second half by putting Marcos as make shift striker, but the plan did not work due to two defensive lapses. In 2nd half, he put Marcos forward and made a couple of substitution that went in favor of Mariners and they created chances galore but unfortunately could not score any goal.

Coach announced the team for Durand cup after match. The players are: Sangram, Shilton, Zenith, Surkumar, Dipak, Rakesh, Mandi, Mohanraj, Santa Kumar, Snehasish, James, Subhojit, Kuluthungan, Micky, Subho Kumar, Ramluah, Manish, Barreto, Chiddi and Branco.